Below: Shot taken at the very first Street Rod Nationals Held in Peoria IL in August of 1970. This event would lead to the birth of the national Street Rod Association and other “Car/Truck” Organizations that would produce large multi-day events for us to attend
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Contents @ Speed King Magazine All Rights Reserved. Editorial content is the sole property of the Speed King Magazine & Speed King Hot Rods. All information contained in each issue is the sole opinion and comments of the editor. The opinions and comments expressed in this issue do not reflect in any way either written or implied on any of the Advertisers in each issue. No portion of the Speed King Magazine maybe reproduced in any form, without written permission from the publisher. The Speed King Magazine will not be held responsible for any errors in the information submitted or provided.
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Number4/SEPTEMBER2025
Publisher & Editor Jim Brandau
Feature Writers Jim Brandau
Executive Editor Jim Brandau
Art Director-Designer Larry Williams – Williams Graphics
Senior Feature Writer Emeritus: Ed Woodard
Contributions Michael Corazzelli, Al Liebmann, HOLLEY, SCTA, Williams Graphics, NASCAR, SEMA, GOODGUYS, NSRA, General Motors, Pebble Beach Concours
Advertising: Contact Jim Brandau for all advertising cost & availabilities at 615-300-2003 8am 5pm CST or at speedkinghotrods1@gmail.com
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SPEED KING MAGAZINE is published bi-monthly by Speed King Hot Rods, PO Box 254 Thompsons Station TN 37179. Phone 615-300-2003
On The Covers: Front: Hot Rod Fun at the 27th Summit Racing Goodguys Nationals Captured by Al Liebmann
Back: VW Pick Up Truck at the 2025 LARS Captured by Michael Corazzelli
“StarterButton”
Greetings Everyone!
As this issue comes together, Labor Day Holiday is upon us. Where did the past 8 months go to! WHEW!!
Labor Day signals for many the end of summer. With kids going back to school, some have been in since the beginning of August depending where you live, and that does kind of signal the end of the “family vacation time”.
I am not ready to say its fall yet so don’t break out that pumpkin spice stuff just yet!! Fall happens in the middle of September and lets not rush it ok! Stuff happens fast enough these days. We’ll be begging for warmer weather before you know it!
Fall doesn't mean the end of hot rod fun! Actually in my opinion, fall is the best time of year for attending a car or truck event. Temps are a little cooler especially in the morning. Throw on a light jacket or sweatshirt when you jump into your ride and toss it in the trunk when it warms up.
Evening cruise-in’s are super nice with that coolness in the air, as you gather and catch up with your fellow gearheads.
The fall time frame, especially the month of September, is PACKED with car and truck events all over the USA!
Actually having shared info on car shows and cruise-in’s for a long time in a past life, I know that September is the BUSIEST period for car shows available to attend. So much so people would and will complain because there are so many to choose from! That’s not a bad thing, just a thing. Go to your favorite one or pick a new one and venture out and see something different and meet some new friends. Nothing wrong with that. As I have long said, “choices are a good thing!”
If you do nothing else this fall, get out and drive your cool ride. Open the windows, turn off the ac if you have it and listen to the rumble of your exhaust as you roll down the two lane road. Oh yea...wave back at everyone...
HOT ROD HISTORY
Its summer time, a time for car shows and cruise-in’s all across the USA. While a lot of car shows were taking place in towns across America, long before August of 1970, that date was a turning point in the car and hot rod world!
The inaugural National Street Rod Association (NSRA) Street Rod Nationals was held in Peoria, Illinois, in August 1970. Founded by editors from Rod and Custom magazine and street rod clubs, this first event established the tradition of the annual gathering, leading to the formal creation of the NSRA to support the street rod community. The Peoria show marked the beginning of an event that grew into the world's largest street rod gathering, showcasing custom cars that embodied the spirit of "build 'em and drive 'em". Cars from across America DROVE and gathered in that field in Peoria, as they knew something big was happening
While the NSRA started here 55 years ago, a number of other organization would go on to be created and help all of us celebrate our love of cars and trucks. Wouldn’t it great if there was a reunion in Peoria in the near future? Maybe someone will grab the idea and make it happen.
NASCAR Headed To San Diego Streets In 2026
Two years ago, the NASCAR Cup Series dove out of its typical oval-track digs and took on the city streets in Chicago. After three races in the Windy City (all of which were won by Chevy competitors), NASCAR is headed for the West Coast, and will race in San Diego, California in 2026.
While only the Xfinity and Cup Series raced in Chicago, this time, the Truck Series will join them for the race at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego.
The event, which will span three days, is scheduled for June 19th through 21st, 2026. It will also be the first NASCAR-sanctioned race ever held on an active military base, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States Navy.
“NASCAR embodies the very best of the American spirit through speed, precision and an unyielding pursuit of excellence. Hosting a race aboard Naval Air Station North Island, the birthplace of naval aviation, it’s not just a historic first, it’s a powerful tribute to the values we share: grit, teamwork and love of country,” said Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan.
He added, “From the flight deck to the finish line, this collaboration reflects the operational intensity and unity of purpose that define both the United States Navy and NASCAR. We’re proud to open our gates to the American people, honor those who wear the uniform, and inspire the next generation to step forward and serve something greater than themselves.”
The official layout of the San Diego street course will be announced at a later date. Tickets for the event will go on sale later this fall. For more info go to www.nascar.com
COMEFORTHECARS,STAYFORTHEMUSIC
The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) has announced the return of SEMA Fest for Friday, November 7. Back for its third year, SEMA Fest 2025 will feature musical performances by Queens of the Stone Age, The Black Crowes and Neon Trees; high-performance automotive demonstrations; drifting; motorsports; custom vehicles many of which can’t be seen anywhere else outside of SEMA Fest; and more. SEMA Fest caps off the weeklong SEMA Show, taking place November 47, 2025, both located within the Las Vegas Convention Center campus with SEMA Fest returning to the Bronze lot.
Tickets for SEMA Fest & SEMA Show Friday Public Access:
General ticket sales for SEMA Fest began on Friday, July 18, at 10 a.m. PT. General admission and VIP concert access tickets are available, as are combined tickets, offering entry to both SEMA Fest and SEMA Show Friday public access to the indoor SEMA Show. This exclusive bundle gives automotive enthusiasts rare access to the world’s largest automotive aftermarket trade event typically reserved for industry insiders alongside performances from some of today’s biggest bands, according to SEMA officials in a press release.
“SEMA Fest brings the excitement of car culture and live music together like never before,” said SEMA vice president of Events Tom Gattuso. “When combined with the rare opportunity to walk the SEMA Show floor during Friday’s public access, it creates an unforgettable experience for enthusiasts. It’s the ultimate way to celebrate the industry, the community, and everything that makes car culture so special.”
SEMA says this year’s Show looks to be even bigger than previous years, with 4.6 million square feet of exhibit space booked by thousands of leading brands leading up to the industry’s most important gathering of the year.
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Oops!! In our last issue of Speed King Magazine, in the Artist Corner story, we mistakenly spelled David Chesnutts’ name wrong in the article. David please accept our apology for the error!
GOODGUYSCROWNSTHEWINNERS!
Goodguys Rod & Custom Association awarded Ross Myers and his 1936 Ford Roadster as their 2025 Classic Instruments Street Rod of the Year. Angelo Vespi and his 1987 Buick Grand National were presented the 2025 PPG Street Machine of the Year Award. These coveted awards were announced during the Goodguys 27th Summit Racing Nationals presented by PPG in Columbus, Ohio, on July 12th.
The 2025 Classic Instruments Street Rod of the Year: A 1936 Ford Roadster Owned by Ross Myers.
Rad Rides by Troy of Manteno, Illinois, built the roadster in just over two years. Unlike most project cars, where a builder starts with a body or rusty remains of a car, the Rad Rides team completely scratch-built the body with innovative modifications to the car’s form and proportions while keeping it recognizable as a ’36 Ford. The car is finished in a tailor-made Porsche green metallic paint with a custom, hand-formed lift-off top.
The coach-built body is mounted to a full custom chassis featuring a torsion bar suspension with wishbone-style radius rods, a quickchange rear axle, and rides on one-off custom machined wheels. For power, Myers selected a vintage 312 cubic-inch Ford Y-block that is force-fed from a vintage McCulloch supercharger through three throttle bodies machined to look like original carburetors from Autotrend EFI.
The interior starts with a custom dash featuring a modified gauge cluster from a ’50 Buick, a unique column, steering wheel, bench seat, pedals and handles. The Rad Rides team covered the entire interior in a comfortable leather. In the end, every part from top to bottom on this street rod has been designed, built or modified by the talented crew at Rad Rides.
The 2025 PPG Street Machine of the Year Award: A 1987 Buick Grand National Owned by Angelo Vespi.
Built by Dutchboys Hotrods in Vicksburg, Michigan, over four years and nearly 10,000 hours, the highly modified Grand National raises the bar for modern street machines. Originally, Vespi said he came to Dutchboys with the goal to build the ultimate Grand National, and being named the Street Machine of the Year solidifies their achievement.
One of the biggest challenges when working on a vehicle built in the mid ’80s is the form and fitment of the steel body panels combined with many plastic pieces that warp, crack and fit poorly even when new. The Dutchboys team replaced all the plastic panels with their own hand-fabricated and machined metal panels throughout the body, tightened every gap, formed the fender flares and even made the bumper strips from aluminum. The final touch was a menacing black finish to carry on the Grand National heritage.
The factory chassis was pushed aside as the Dutchboys designed a custom frame and channeled the body over it to achieve an intimidating, low stance and fitment for the custom-machined 20-inch wheels. A front subframe and rear suspension setup from Detroit Speed were incorporated into the new frame, providing performance handling with huge Baer brakes pulling the GN to a stop.
Originally, Grand Nationals were powered by a high-performance, turbocharged 3.8L V-6 Buick, but Vespi wanted to double the fun by adding twin turbos feeding into a Mast Motorsports 7.0L LS engine. The fuel delivery, boost and ignition are all managed by a Holley EFI system, with the engine easily producing over 1,000 horsepower.
The interior pays homage to the original Buick design, but there is not an original piece to be found. Avant Garde Design 3D scanned the entire interior and set about 3D printing and machining all new panels, seats, trim, pedals and handles. Once complete, everything was wrapped and stitched in leather and suede materials with a flat-screen display from Holley monitoring the drivetrain and controls.
It took a little longer than anticipated, but the Dutchboys and their partners created the ultimate Grand National, which they call the GNXS, after the uber-rare GNX, which was only offered in 1987.
The long-awaited Nürburgring lap times are finally out for the highest performance variants of the C8 Corvette, and the results are impressive. The ZR1 and ZR1X models both achieved lap times of well under seven minutes, and the Corvette ZR1X has the bragging right as the fastest American production car around the Nürburgring of all time.
Here are the current Nürburgring lap time records, including the numbers for the C8 Corvette models that Chevy tested at the ‘Ring:
The car that the ZR1 and ZR1X defeated to make it the fastest American car is the Ford Mustang GTD. Effectively a limited production version of the Ford Mustang GT3 racecar, it previously held the American production car record of 6:52.072.
As for production car records overall, the Corvette ZR1X is in fifth place behind the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series and ahead of the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. The C8 ZR1 is in seventh place, slotted between the aforementioned 911 and Mustang.
“No auto manufacturer has done a Nürburgring lap attempt like this before,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “From development through production, and now at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the Green Hell, we have clearly shown there is no limit to what our GM engineers and vehicles can accomplish. These are the best Corvettes in history, period.”
GM didn’t use professional racecar drivers to post these ‘Ring times. They used GM employees. The man who broke the American car record with the ZR1X was the car’s own vehicle dynamics engineer Drew Cattell. The ZR1’s vehicle dynamics engineer Brian Wallace drove that variant, and vehicle performance manager Aaron Link drove the Z06, which earned a lap time of 7:11.826. The three of them have driven the Nürburgring a combined 31 times to test and develop GM performance vehicles, and they bring a combined 36 years of experience to the Corvette program.
“We’ve created a different kind of relationship between our cars, iconic tracks, and our engineers; it is how we develop our vehicles,” said Senior Vice President of Product Programs, Safety, Integration and Motorsports Ken Morris. “These Corvettes weren’t piloted by pro racecar drivers. They were driven by the same engineers who designed, engineered, and tuned them. Brian, Aaron, and Drew have grown into world-class drivers and even better engineers. Their lap times now rank among the fastest ever recorded by non-professionals at the ‘Ring, which is so cool.”
Racing is dangerous. We see those words written time and again when crashes occur, when people die behind the wheel. Even when racing the clock – often when racing the clock as primary competition – stuff happens; machinery fails; people die.
The face of Automotive Racing Products (ARP), the Ventura, California-based purveyor of fasteners to the trade, Chris Raschke lost his life piloting Speed Demon III on the Bonneville Salt Flats on Sunday, August 3. His loss of life was confirmed by the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), which sanctions the annual trek to the border of Utah and Nevada by those who chase and overcome land speed records.
Speed Demon, one of the quickest wheel-driven streamliners trying to conquer the depleted salt at Bonneville, had teething issues when the SCTA meet opened August 2. Raschke was making his first true attempts after a Saturday shakedown in this vehicle when, according to those on-site, the piston-powered Speed Demon became airborne at about 300mph at the 2.5-mile mark. Despite quick efforts by medical staff on the salt, Raschke, 60, could not be saved.
Born in Ventura, Raschke, a record-setting land-speed racer before joining the Speed Demon team, became involved in motorsport early in life as the first employee of Ventura Raceway, where he also competed in dirt-track racing. Later working under engine builder Kenny Duttweiler, Raschke honed his fabrication and mechanical capabilities. He joined ARP in 1996 and ultimately served as the company’s director of sales and marketing. In that capacity he was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of fasteners and his quick wit.
When his good friend George Poteet passed in 2024 of a pulmonary embolism, Raschke took on the duties as driver of Speed Demon, the machine that took Poteet to speeds in excess of 400 miles per hour; he erased that 400mph mark more than 50 times before his death at age 76. Raschke jumped at the chance to work again with Duttweiler, who has responsibilities of updating and maintaining Speed Demon’s motive power.
As a member of the Speed Demon team, Raschke had achieved a personal best exit speed on the salt of 459.734 mph; together, the team was pushing towards an historic 500 mph record attempt during this race meeting. It was Raschke’s second season succeeding Poteet as Speed Demon’s driver. The streamliner was in its third incarnation. In last year’s SCTA meeting, Raschke won the Hot Rod Magazine Trophy with the highest five-mile speed of 446.716 mph.
A devoted family man, Chris Raschke is survived by his wife Connie Patterson and their three children: Kenneth, Kristopher and Carly. The Speed Demon team has requested: “At this time, we ask everyone to please respect Chris’ family, fiends and the Speed Demon team. We are deeply devastated.”
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Grand National Truck Show returns to the Fairplex in Pomona on Sept. 26-27 with a new Friday and Saturday schedule packed with trucks, vans and SUVs of every year, make, model and style.
The centerpiece of the show will feature a collection of incredible custom trucks competing for the World's Most Beautiful Truck Award, presented by ARP Fasteners. The winner of this coveted prize will receive $12,500 and a custom trophy. Additional awards will be given out in over 75 judged classes, including best display, paint, interior, engine, detailing and more.
"The Grand National Truck Show is the West Coast’s premier truck-only show and each year we have been blown away by the amazing turnout of beautiful trucks, vans and SUVs,” said John Buck, owner of Rod Shows. “There is clearly a passion for these vehicles, and we are delighted to welcome everyone back to the Fairplex in September.”
The event will also feature the popular Grand National Truck-In. This two-day outdoor portion of the show is newly expanded for 2025, and will welcome all years and styles of trucks, SUVs and vans, as well as custom cars of all years. It’s the perfect place to cruise in with your vehicle, hang out with your club and maybe even take home an award. Two-day Truck-In pre-registration is $100, which includes show admission for two, a dash plaque and a goody bag. Single-day on-site registration is $60 per day (cash only).
In addition to the vehicle displays, this year's event will feature a daily BMX show, mini trucks, monster trucks and more. Attendees can also show their support for a great cause at the Pinstriper Charity Auction, where talented pinstripers will create custom art for auction. For a small donation, attendees can have personal items, such as cell phones or laptops, transformed with unique designs. All proceeds benefit the Volunteers for Veterans Foundation.
The Grand National Truck Show will be open to the public on Friday, Sept. 26, and Saturday, Sept. 27, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Adult admission is $25 each day, $10 for children ages 6 to 12 and children under 5 are admitted free. Discounted $23 tickets are available at local O’Reilly Auto Parts stores. On-site parking is $20 per vehicle. For more information about the O’Reilly Auto Parts Grand National Truck Show, to enter a vehicle or to purchase tickets, please visit www.rodshows.com/GNTS
HolleyToExpandFordFestBeyondaMustang-CentricEvent
HOLLEY Performance Brands is expanding its annual Ford Fest from a Mustang-centric event into a celebration of all things Ford, with expanded truck and off-road experiences for enthusiasts of the Bronco and F-150 platforms. The 7th annual Ford Fest is a weekend that will feature drag racing, off-road adventures and motorsports competitions. As the grand finale in Holley’s nationwide series of flagship events, the festival will take place September 26-27, 2025, at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Holley’s hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The announcement of the expansion comes after news that Holley Performance Brands would take full ownership of Ford Fest, after several years of hosting the event in partnership with the NMRA World Finals.
“As Ford Fest enters a new era, we’re taking performance, safety, fun and excitement to the next level for Ford enthusiasts,” said Matthew Stevenson, president & CEO, Holley Performance Brands. “Modern truck and off-road event experiences have become some of our most popular, so we’re pushing the limits this year with new off -road Bronco challenges and bigger truck competitions. If you’re passionate about Ford performance, this is the ultimate weekend to experience it firsthand.”
Ford Fest 2025 will introduce new experiences for the truck and off-road enthusiast audience, including off-road skill training, obstacle courses and expert-led sessions on offroad driving and vehicle recovery for Bronco owners. Additionally, an all-new drag racing class called Truck Warz will provide even more competitive excitement for truck enthusiasts, stated company officials in a press release.
Past Ford Fest events on the schedule include drag races, drift exhibitions, autocross, car shows and the burnout contest. Additionally, a brand-new drag racing class will debut for vehicles powered by Ford’s latest engine, the Godzilla.
Attendees can also explore a wide range of product offerings tailored specifically for Ford performance and customization. Holley says the lineup includes solutions from its iconic brands to help Ford owners build faster, safer and more capable vehicles.
Event organizers say that with an estimated 20,000 attendees, 2,000 participating vehicles and more than 50 vendors and sponsors showcasing the latest Ford parts, accessories and technology, Ford Fest continues to grow as a premier event in the performance automotive space.
For more info go to https://www.fordfest.com/
1924Hispano-SuizaH6CNieuport-AstraTorpedo
WinsBestofShowatthe74thPebbleBeachConcours
This year at the 2025 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, 229 cars including 55 international entries from 22 countries and 174 U.S. entries from 31 states pulled onto the competition field. The car named Best of Show was a unique aero-inspired 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C Nieuport-Astra Torpedo shown by Penny and Lee Anderson Sr. of Naples, Florida. “This Hispano-Suiza ticks every possible box,” said concours chairman Sandra Button. “The underpinnings are technically advanced. The body is meticulously hand-crafted, light and lovely. It was, notably, commissioned by aperitif scion André Dubonnet, and he raced it in both the Targa Florio and Coppa Florio. A later owner added pontoon fenders to the car, but the Andersons sought to return the car to its original form so you can see and truly appreciate its torpedo shape.”
Known as the “Tulipwood” Torpedo, the car is constructed of strips of mahogany, each individually carved to shape and then joined to the inner ribs by 8,500 rivets. It reportedly weighed just 160 pounds when first built.
Lee Anderson said it was all the wood that first attracted him to the car. “I like wood. I’m a wood boat antique collector. I started collecting them 40 years ago, before it became voguish to do that. So, I’ve always loved varnished wood, and when I saw this, I said, ‘My gosh. This is right in my wheelhouse. This is what I really like.”
Asked whether the win was expected, Penny exclaimed, “We had no idea, but we were dreaming about it.”
Other Cars That Were in the Running for Best of Show
This year’s race for Best of Show included a 1939 Maybach SW38 Spohn Sport Zweisitzer shown by Dana and Patti Mecum of Geneva Lake, Wisconsin; the 1933 Invicta 4 1/2 Litre S Type Corsica Drophead Coupé shown by SBH of Riffa, Bahrain; and the 1956 Maserati 200SI Fantuzzi Open Sports Racer shown by Phillip Sarofim of Beverly Hills, California. The 2026 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
The 75th Celebration of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance will be held at The Lodge at Pebble Beach on Aug.16, 2026, and will feature the marque of Ferrari and the coachbuilder Vignale. The event will also celebrate the automotive history that has been made at Pebble Beach, with curated classes for Pebble Beach Road Racing greats and a special gathering that pays tribute to iconic groups of cars first brought together at the Pebble Beach Concours. Officials said that more details and features will be announced this fall.
ALandSpeedTrifecta
Danny Thompson and the Ferguson team have won the prestigious Hot Rod Magazine Trophy at Bonneville!
Thompson set the C/FS record (370.756mph), the A/FS record (406.133mph) and recorded top speed of the meet at 421.943mph.
The Hot Rod Magazine Trophy has been awarded to the fastest car during SpeedWeek since 1949. The latter is particularly meaningful to Danny, as Danny will have his name etched into the same trophy as his legendary father, Mickey Thompson, who had top speed in 1959 and 1960. How cool is that?
At this year’s Bonneville Speed Week the Ferguson team set two new land speed records and won the Hot Rod Trophy! A Very Successful Speed Week!
Danny would like to thank Don Ferguson and all of his hard working crew members for making this accomplishment possible!
After this years speed week’s performance, the Thompson Family & Ferguson Racing now hold the following records:
If you’ve ever wondered what hot rodding looks like when a whole region of the USA treats it like a civic holiday, step into Pomona’s Fairplex on Father’s Day weekend.
The 59th Los Angeles Roadster Show, held this past June 13–14, reaffirmed why this gathering sits near the top of every hot rodder’s bucket list! Two sun-splashed days of open cars, parts piles, and people who speak fluent early Ford. It was the 43rd time the show has been staged at the Fairplex, a venue that has become synonymous with the event’s matured scale and easygoing rhythm.
At its core, the L.A. Roadster Show is a love letter to the purest expression of hot rodding the roadster. Typically 1936 and earlier, and to the club that willed this tradition into being.
The Los Angeles Roadsters Car Club formed in 1957, a small group of enthusiasts who prized clean, topless cars and the social glue that formed around them. Within three years, they’d launched a show that would outgrow
its parking-lot origins and evolve alongside West Coast car culture itself.
From a Parking Lot to a Pilgrimage
The first L.A. Roadsters gathering took place in 1960 at the Hollywood Bowl’s multi -tiered parking lot, humble, improvised, and instantly magnetic. Those early years were more swap-meet-in-spirit than formal concours, but the seed was planted, bring your roadster, bring your parts, and bring your friends. Archival accounts and photo features from Hot Rod Magazine document that inaugural parking-lot era and the show’s early growth.
Through the 1960s the event bounced between notable Los Angeles area venues as it found its identity. It went quiet briefly in the early ’60s, then 1967 marked a turning point: the club officially named it the “L.A. Roadster Exhibition and Swap Meet,” and crucially scheduled it for Father’s Day weekend, cementing a tradition that has since defined the show’s cadence. From that year forward, Father’s Day weekend became the cultural anchor that families and car clubs plan around.
Club histories and veteran coverage consistently pinpoint 1967 as both the first official title year and the first Father’s Day edition.
Venue moves mirrored the show’s momentum. After the Hollywood Bowl era, the
event shifted to the Great Western Exhibit Center in the City of Commerce, a practical move that, among other things, allowed a legitimate swap meet outside the restrictions of the city proper. By 1980 the show landed at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona now the Fairplex where it blossomed from a single-day sprint into a two-day format beginning in 1981. The Fairplex’s sprawl gave the show what it needed most: room for hundreds of roadsters, a booming swap, and a “Preferred Parking” area that welcomed pre’85 specialty cars and made thousands of non -roadster owners feel part of the festivities.
For insiders, a small pewter mug looms large. The L.A. Roadsters have long awarded these mugs to drivers who bring a roadster and stick around to the end an old-school, handshake-era token that says you were there with the right car and the right spirit. The tradition dates to the early years, took firm hold during the Great Western era, and continues today at Pomona. It’s a charming ritual that distills the show’s ethos: the point isn’t just to look; it’s to participate.
As the show matured, so did its statistics. In some years the roadster count has topped 800; in most, the swap meet’s sheer size becomes the story. The 2025 edition showed that the appetite hasn’t dimmed a bit: roughly 300 bona fide roadsters, more than 500 pre’85 specialty cars in Preferred Parking, and
nearly 600 swap vendors filled the Fairplex over Friday and Saturday. The club now intentionally leaves Sunday actual Father’s Day open for family time, a modern tweak that respects both tradition and the realities of a busy weekend.
The first thing you notice in Pomona is how democratic the spectacle is. On the show side, rows of Deuces stretch into the distance ’32 highboys with quick-change rears, ’29As with perfect wheel rake, rare full-fendered ’33–’34s sitting just right. Paint runs the gamut from dead-flat primer and survivor patina to glassy candy hues that sparkle in the inlandempire sun. You can trace eras at a glance: 1960s scallops; 1970s panel jobs; 1990s billet cleanliness; today’s traditionalist builds with hidden modernity (think five-speed transmissions and disc brakes under wire wheels). Out in Preferred Parking, the rules relax and the story widens: early customs, trifive Chevys, gasser-style survivors, and the sort of oddball machinery banger-powered T’s, Lakes-inspired phaetons that keeps conversations lively.
Then there’s the swap meet, a city unto itself. “Bring cash and comfortable shoes” remains the standing advice. Aisles held intake manifolds stacked like cordwood, rows of Strombergs, early Ford sheetmetal, StewartWarner gauges, and obsolete speedequipment catalogs that elicit the same reverence as barn-find Ardun heads. The scale has
long been part of the event’s reputation, and 2025 delivered the full sprawl.
People, of course, are the glue. The L.A. Roadsters themselves those red shirts function like hosts, traffic marshals, and storytellers. Veterans point out cars they remember from the ’70s; younger builders take notes on stance and proportion. Out-of-state and international visitors (common at this show for decades) chase the parts they can’t source at home and the folklore you can’t buy. The social vibe is oddly intimate for an event this large: you can be one question away from a fabrication tip, a lead on a rare grille shell, or a first-person story about how a legendary roadster looked before its last rebuild. That interpersonal exchange has always been the quiet power of Pomona’s Father’s Day weekend.
Part of the show’s magnetism is philosophical. A roadster is elemental: fewer panels, more sky, and nothing between you and the air rushing over the cowl. That simplicity foregrounds stance, wheel/tire choices, and craftsmanship in a way closed cars can almost hide. By elevating the open car, the L.A. Roadsters didn’t just curate a category they preserved a lens through which the whole hot -rod project can be judged. The Father’s Day timing adds a layer of ritual that ties generations together; many of today’s attendees grew up riding shotgun through these gates.
The other reason is practical. Pomona’s Fairplex is simply built for this: multiple gates, wide aisles, food and shade where they matter, and enough acreage that you can wander for hours without retracing steps. The layout encourages lingering, which is how you end up seeing the small things the way a cowl band aligns after a subtle channel job, or how a builder hid a modern fuel system without disturbing the silhouette of a ’29 tank. Those details ladder up to the show’s reputation as an outdoor master class in roadster proportion.
The L.A. Roadster Show has weathered cancellations (2020, for pandemic reasons) and shifts in format, but the through-line is unbroken: community first, roadsters always, and Father’s Day as a guiding star. That the 59th landed with such energy full swap, healthy car counts, and a groundswell of out-of-town visitors suggests the template still works. The club has already marked the calendar for future editions, continuing the two-day schedule that saves Sunday for family, an arrangement that feels both reverent and realistic.
If you’ve never been (and why not?), here’s the distilled advice from regulars: arrive early, walk the swap first before the rare stuff disappears, tour the roadster corral while the light’s soft, and leave time to talk. You might not drive home with a pewter mug, but you will carry off something harder to find an intuition for what makes a roadster “right,” and a renewed sense that car culture is best understood in person, shoulder-to-shoulder, on Father’s Day weekend in Pomona.
Someday never comes friends! Make your plans for the 60th LA Roadster Show Fathers Day Weekend 2026...you wont be disappointed.
TheArtist’s Corner
Meet Larry Williams
Automotive artists and designers help turn ideas into reality for concepts, vehicle builds, parts creation and more. Automotive artists also draw to entertain us all, producing fun and exciting creations from their own creative minds and getting them on paper, canvas or a computer screen. However it is done, the results are the same: pure enjoyment and beauty for the viewer to behold.
This month we are highlighting artist, Larry Williams of Joliet, Illinois. Larry has been operating Williams Graphics/Larry Williams Design since 1987, when he turned his artistic design abilities into a full-time career. Larry has always had an intense interest in cars and started drawing as soon as he was old enough to pick up a pencil, or in this case, a Crayon. In his early days he would spend many hours poring over magazines such as CARtoons, Hot Rod Cartoons, Hot Rod, Car Craft and others, looking for any car drawings he could find. He would study each drawing, often trying to replicate each artist’s style. This became his “art school”. Artists such as Kenny Youngblood, Fred Boatman, Ed Newton, George Trosley and many others would become a huge influence in his style. In later years Youngblood would become instrumental in helping Larry develop his design and rendering skills.
Larry also has a serious interest in drag racing and through friends, Jim Brandau and Ken Juricic, met and began working with drag racing legends Ted Borowski and Ron Colson. This made it possible to have a successful career in the drag racing world creating paint scheme and t-shirt designs. Larry has worked with many well known drag racers and has won many “Best Appearing Car” awards at NHRA and IHRA national events. His renderings have appeared in countless magazines over the years.
Larry is also involved in the hot rod world creating concept renderings for owners and builders and designs for major hot rod events. These concepts have won prestigious awards such as the Great Eight at Detroit AutoRama, ISCA Grand Champion and others. Another intense interest of Larry’s is cartooning. He is a regular featured artist in CARtoons magazine and offers a ‘Toon calendar that sells out quickly every year. Car owners love having Larry “Toon their ride”.
Larry also enjoys creating original hot rod art prints, stickers, T-shirts and more that are available exclusively at www.williamsgraphics.bigcartel.com.
Larry does commission work regularly. If you are interested in having a rendering or ’toon created or have other design needs he can be contacted directly at williamsgraphics@comcast.net. You can also see much of his work on Facebook and Instagram. Look him up under Williams Graphics or Larry Williams Design
Words:JimBrandau
Photography:ALLiebmann
Every summer, the streets of Columbus Ohio, pulse with chrome, horsepower, and the heartbeat of a culture devoted to American hot rodding.
The 27th Goodguys Summit Racing Nationals Presented by PPG, rolled into town on July 11–13, 2025, at the Ohio Expo Center, and it once again proved why it’s heralded as the “Big One” among Goodguys’ legendary annual lineup.
The Goodguys Rod & Custom Association launched its first car show in 1983 the All American GetTogether in Pleasanton, California welcoming over 650 cars in a singleday format. In 1987, the organization expanded nationally, anchoring multiple rod and custom events across the U.S., including the one in Columbus that evolved into today’s Summit Racing Nationals.
Classic Instruments Street Rod of The Year
The Columbus “Nats,” also known as the PPG Nationals, has become Goodguys' classics, and street machines featuring vehicles up to 1999 vintage and crowns Rod of the Year Awards.
A Weekend That Packed the Grounds. The 2025 edition—aptly numbered the hours extending from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first two days, wrapping at 3 p.m. cars, customs, and vintage trucks packed the fairgrounds in full festival mode.
The Top Awards at this GOODGUYS event are the Classic Instruments Street Rod Ross Myers’ 1936 Ford roadster (built by Rad Rides by Troy) earned The Classic Buick Grand National (built by Dutchboys Hotrods) took home the PPG Street Machine
PPG Street Machine Of The Year
Goodguys' largest annual event. It regularly attracts more than 6,500 rods, customs, crowns the coveted PPG Street Machine of the Year and Classic Instruments Street
27th—unfolded over three action-packed days: Friday through Sunday, with p.m. Sunday. Over 6,000 of the finest classic American vehicles hot rods, muscle
Rod of the Year and PPG Street Machine of the Year.
Classic Instruments Street Rod of the Year Award. Angelo Vespi’s twin-turbo 1987 Machine of the Year Award.
Check out SPEED KING NEWS in this issue for more on the two big winners.
Each year at “The Big One” Goodguys gives away a grand prize of a custom built vehicle. When it was time for The Grand Prize Giveaway, Seventeen hopefuls who qualified at various Goodguys Events across the USA, faced the “magic key” challenge. Only one key could start and drive off in the Goolsby Customs-built 1986 Monte Carlo SS Aerocoupe. Lucky Trent Nelson walked away victorious. Goodguys also had The 2026 giveaway vehicle featured, a sleek 1940 Ford coupe by Roseville Rod & Custom. If you want a shot at winning the 40 Ford next year in Columbus, make sure to attend one of the various Goodguys Events across the country over the next year and you just might get qualified and get lucky like Trent did this year.
At this years event, Goodguys had an impressive indoor Tri-Five Chevy show celebrating the 70th anniversary of '55–'57 models one of the event’s standout displays. Quite a collection of some of the best Tri-5 Chevys anywhere.
Full Throttle Fun of all kinds took place all weekend long. This included the Forgeline “Buckeye Shootout” AutoCross racing, Nitro Thunderfest, a fan favorite, the burnout competition, Pro Street rollouts, a monster indoor swap meet and the vendor midway, endless manufacturer exhibits, live music, family zones, and even parking-lot after-parties.
Before a car rolled into the Ohio State Fairgrounds, the event kicked off with a Poker Run, hit the road with cruise-ins, and TGIF party at the host hotel parking lot.
A Legacy Forged in Chrome and Community. From its roots in a California fairground to becoming the largest hot rod association in the U.S., Goodguys has built a culture that celebrates the craftsmanship and community of street rodding. The Summit Racing Nationals in Columbus has risen alongside it turning midsummer into a multi-day pilgrimage for enthusiasts nationwide.
In 2025, the 27th Summit Racing Nationals delivered tradition with velocity: awards, giveaways, autocross, music, swap meets, and thousands of rolling works of art. It reaffirmed that this isn’t just a car show it’s a living, breathing ode to American automotive spirit, rooted in competition, camaraderie, and the shared hum of V8s under the July sun.
Goodguys will release its 2026 schedule of events later this year. Check out the dates for “THE BIG ONE” in Ohio and make plans to be part of the hot rod fun.
Words&Photography:JimBrandau
If you ever driven through the rolling hills of Middle Tennessee outside Columbia, you would absolutely drive by one of the premier car collections anywhere, without knowing you passed it by.
Tucked away in those rolling hill is JOHNSON’S HORSEPOWER GARAGE owner Jason Johnsons personal car collection, and what a collection it is!!
Jason recently opened the doors to his collection and invited everyone to come on out to the MEET & GREET for Tony Stewarts Drag Race Team, which JHG sponsors, at his personal garage.
Both Tony Stewart and Matt Hagan were on hand with their top fuel and funny car for everyone to check out, along with all those cool cars of Jasons’.
There was a great turnout of hot rodders, and many brought their own personal rides, which got o park up front for everyone to check out also.
Thanks to Jason and the JHG Team for opening the doors to the “garage, as a great time was had by everyone who came out.
Fueling Emotion, Frame by Frame: Where Every Detail of every shot tells
In the realm of automotive photography, where precision meets passion, Wolf Motorsports Photography is a distinguished name. Founded by Jeff and Heather Wolf, this venture is more than a business it's a culmination of a lifelong dream and an unwavering dedication to the automotive world.
Jeff Wolf, an ardent hot rod enthusiast, once aspired to work for a car magazine. After having his work published unedited, online for a major magazine, he realized he could chart his own path. This epiphany led to the creation of Wolf Motorsports Media, the parent company encompassing Wolf Motorsports Magazine, its YouTube channel, and the photography division. Their mission is clear: to provide high-quality, emotionally resonant automotive content that captures the essence of the journey.
Wolf Motorsports Photography is renowned for its still-life automotive images that tell a story. Their tagline, "Fueling Emotion, Frame by Frame," encapsulates their approach to photography. Each shot is meticulously crafted to highlight the intricate details and the soul of the machine, offering viewers a window into the automotive journey.
The quality of their work has not gone unnoticed. In the fall of 2023, Wolf Motorsports Photography entered The International Chromatic Color Awards and received an "Honorable Mention" in the "Still Life Amateur" category for their piece titled "Big Block Candy." This accolade underscores their commitment to excellence and their ability to stand out in a competitive field.
Their photography portfolio is a testament to their versatility and artistic vision. From vibrant hues to award-winning compositions, the collection showcases a range of automotive subjects captured in stunning detail. For enthusiasts and collectors, these images are available for purchase in various formats, including prints and magnets, through their online store.
Wolf Motorsports Photography exemplifies the fusion of passion, artistry, and dedication. Through their lens, they not only capture the beauty of automobiles but also tell compelling stories that resonate with enthusiasts worldwide. As they continue to expand their offerings and connect with the community, their work remains a testament to the enduring allure of the automotive journey.
Beyond photography, Wolf Motorsports Media is dedicated to engaging with the automotive community. Their online magazine and YouTube channel offer a wealth of content for car enthusiasts, from in-depth articles to dynamic videos. This multi-platform approach ensures that their passion for automobiles reaches a broad audience.
For more information or to explore their portfolio and pick up a piece today visit Wolf Motorsports Photography at www.wolfmotorsportsphotography.com
